Huntington looks forward to new truck

The Huntington City Council met in their October regularly scheduled council meeting with the hottest topic being the proposed new fire station. A citizen questioned if people really understood the survey as posed and questioned the need for a new fire station. The mayor and council responded that they had received no complaints on the survey nor had the city workers been asked any questions by anyone.

The survey laid out three options of doing nothing, remodeling the current facility at total city expense or building a new facility in a different location with money obtained from the Community Impact Board.

The city hired an animal control officer for the weekends so the city will be covered seven days a week. It was also mentioned by Fire Chief Garth Childs that a new fire truck for the city should be arriving sometime in November. The CIB has funded all the new stations in the county. The survey was sent to every P.O. box in town or was available at city hall. The city had close to a 100 surveys returned with 98 percent in favor of a new facility.

While the city council took no action at this meeting, the council will have firm dollar amounts on both remodeling the old and building the new before any decision is made to proceed.

The council also reviewed the current shares of water owned or controlled by the city. The thought had been there that maybe the city possessed too many shares for their needs. After reviewing the amount of water used by both culinary and secondary systems in town, it was decided that the city only had about 20 percent more than they actually used last year. This is a comfortable amount for the city based on projections of future growth and the ongoing concerns of another drought year.

City ordinance 7-2010 was approved that will now allow residential apartments in the commercial district of the city. This does not allow the construction of apartment buildings. Any apartment or apartments must be the minor use of a building, as the commercial integrity must be maintained.

The city rodeo grounds announcer stand is in need of being replaced. The current building is old, full of insects, too small and has no way to be shut off from the elements. It was decided to draw up plans for a new booth and to put the construction up for bid by local contractors.